September 10, 2014 — Pope Francis has appointed U.S. Jesuit Father Robert J. Geisinger as the Promoter of Justice at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this role, Fr. Geisinger will serve as the Vatican's chief prosecutor of sex abuse crimes.

The position also involves monitoring the procedures that national bishops' conferences have in place for dealing with abuse accusations and handling the dismissal from the priesthood of those guilty of sexual abuse. Fr. Geisinger succeeds Father Robert W. Oliver, who has been appointed Secretary to the Vatican Commission for the Safeguarding of Minors. 

A member of the Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuits, Fr. Geisinger has been serving in Rome since 2001 as general procurator for the Society of Jesus — the chief in-house canonical adviser to Jesuit Superior General Father Adolfo Nicolás.

Born in Parma, Ohio, in 1958, Fr. Geisinger received degrees in English literature, philosophy, canon law and a Master of Divinity degree. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1981 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1991.

Fr. Geisinger has also worked as associate chancellor of the Chicago Archdiocese and as a presiding judge on the archdiocese's metropolitan tribunal. [Catholic News Service, Vatican Radio]